F1: Renault investigating Vettel issues

Renault is investigating the power issue that forced Sebastian Vettel's early retirement from the 2014 Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Red Bull's four-time world champion endured a troubled weekend as new teammate Daniel Ricciardo raced to a provisional podium in Melbourne.

A software issue meant Vettel struggled with a lack of power throughout Saturday's final free practice session, and qualified a lowly 13th as his teammate made the front row of the grid.

Vettel's problems continued into the race and he retired after just three laps with his Renault engine struggling for performance.

Renault's head of track operations Remi Taffin said the engine manufacturer accepted some blame for Vettel's struggles around the Albert Park street circuit.

"Basically, if you take his entire weekend, in FP1 it was quite a good step from Bahrain [testing], FP2 was OK, FP3 was a step down on driveability, qualifying was a step down [too]. We made it worse and worse and worse," said Taffin. "We accept we don't have something consistent enough, but we've learned again. It is sometimes difficult to pick these issues with the mapping or the software.

"We worked around this for the race, [but] Sebastian had a loss of full throttle power, which we trace now and we will try to correct for the next race."